Eleanor Roosevelt College

Find out more about Roosevelt College.

Eleanor Roosevelt College (ERC), the fifth of UCSD's colleges, was named after Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1932 – 1945. Over her lifetime, Mrs. Roosevelt actively pursued educational, economic, social, and racial equality in the United States and abroad. She was also a strong advocate of community service. In later life, as a United States delegate to the United Nations, she had a pivotal role in drafting and securing adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt College continues her global view of citizenship by emphasizing the combined importance of knowledge, leadership, and service as core characteristics of the well-educated student.

The college, founded as Fifth College in 1988, opened as the Cold War was ending and continues to educate students to work effectively in a rapidly changing world. The required Making of the Modern World (MMW) sequence offers a multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural approach to Western and non-Western civilizations. Through MMW, students explore other political, social, and religious traditions in a supportive academic community. Although not required, Roosevelt students are strongly encouraged to study abroad as part of their UCSD education.

General education at ERC

ERC's general education program challenges students by leading them to learn from the world's great civilizations and languages; to explore scientific, quantitative, and artistic subjects; and to write proficiently. Students choose from a range of courses for every college requirement.

ERC’s general education program requires:

Making of the Modern World (MMW), a 5-quarter program, comparatively examines the politics, economics, society, and religion of the world's great civilizations from pre-history to the 21st century. By studying Western and non-Western civilizations each quarter students develop skills in comparative analysis. Two quarters include intensive instruction in university-level writing.

2 courses in quantitative methods (choices available for science and non-science majors)

2 courses in the natural sciences (choices available for science and non-science majors)

1 course in the fine arts

0-4 courses in a foreign language (may be met by proficiency or course work)

3 courses in a regional specialization

Minor: optional. Students may combine foreign language and regional specialization course work to create a minor focusing on a particular geographic area.